"The National School Lunch Program is a federally assisted meal program operating in public and nonprofit private schools and residential child care institutions. It provides nutritionally balanced, low-cost or free lunches to children each school day. The program was established under the National School Lunch Act, signed by President Harry Truman in 1946." (www.usda.gov)
I think this is a great program because the children who are worried about where their next meal is coming from know that they have at least five days of good healthy meals. This will help them be able to concentrate more on their studies and less on when they are going to eat next.
My first early childhood education job was at a low-income daycare. Many of the children's families were on state assistance with single parents living pay check to pay check. Once a month the teachers (most like myself were students at the university in the town) would get together Friday morning and would pool together money and one of us would go shopping and get food to put in "weekend bags" for the children. We had a sign up sheet and the parents who would want the weekend bags would sign up and we would send home a sack full of food like dry goods, snack foods, and even baby food or formula for some families. We did this so we knew that some of the children would have food for the weekend.
A cool website I found while researching school nutrition around the world is about International School Meals Day (March 6th, 2015). The USA and the UK have joined forces to spread the word about good school nutrition and the importance of eating healthy for school children. This program has been going on since 2013 and each year the program educates the importance of good eating practices at school and at home.
"Overall, the aims of International School Meals Day are to:
- Raise awareness of the importance of the nutritional quality of school meal programs worldwide
- Emphasise (Emphasize) the connection between healthy eating, education and better learning
- Connect children around the world to foster healthy eating habits and promote well-being in schools
- Share success stories of school meal programs around the globe
- Highlight research activities in school meal programs around the globe
- Raise awareness of the hunger and poverty issues being addressed through school feeding programmes (programs)" (www.internationalschoolmealsday.com)
Hi Tia,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your post. It is wonderful that the teachers and yourself were able to come together and help the children in your center. We have a similar program in our town called the backpack program in the public schools. Children receive a backpack full of food on Friday after school. Working in a child care center, we have guidelines about how much food to serve the children during breakfast and lunch. This bothers me because children always come to our centers hungry. Several of the teachers including myself have extra cereal and crackers in the classroom because children should not be denied food when they are still hungry.
Hello Tia, what a good post. I was touched by your contributions to the families's nutrition when you were still students. It is a very good thing to do that we should all integrate in our financial priorities. Public schools in Rwanda's rural areas provide breakfast and lunch for children. And as you said, it helps little ones to only focus on their studies instead of their hunger.
ReplyDeleteGood post Tia, all the best.
dear tia
ReplyDeleteNutrition was a great topic to discuss. In america, kids are not taught the proper way to eat. Our home cook meals have been replaced with McDonalds and Burger king. When I worked in the school system I noticed the school meals have changed dramatically. Schools are becoming more aware of the nutrition issue. Salad bars are coming into school where when I was in school "snack lines" was the main source of food for many students. I remember a favorite among kids was cream cheese and Doritos on a bagel Great choice!
Dear Tia,
ReplyDeleteI also chose nutrition because I feel it is important. Sometimes parents have to do the easy route and that means rolling through the drive though to get their children food. Little do they know that if they do this consistently, over the course of time their child will be more likely to exhibit the same behavior in their own diet. You factor in the fact that most fast food companies target children and it can be viewed as a recipe for disaster.